Getting ready for the art show!

The end of the year has been pretty hectic for me so far...between my pregnancy brain, morning sickness and lack of energy, I'm struggling to get to the end of the year!  I've used more sick days so far since the 6 week point in my pregnancy than I did all of last year!

I know some of you have already had your big art show...I'm using this week to get ready for mine!  I always do the art show on budget vote day in our district, which is May 21st this year.  So, I'm taking a full day sub on Monday to set up for the art show and a 1/2 day sub in the afternoon to run my art club table (boondoggle sale and glass plate sale).

Here's how I get ready for the art show...

First, I pass back all of the artwork I've saved for each class and I have the students sign their names on the FRONT of each artwork.  I always have them do it on the back so that I can put their artwork on Artsonia. When everyone has signed their artwork, we neatly pile it up and I collect it.

Then, on Monday (set-up day), I go through each student's pile and I choose their best work from the pile.  This way, everyone gets at least one artwork in the show.  After I hang everything, if I still have room, I'll go back through and pick the next best, and so on and so forth.

This is my cart after three classes signed all their artwork...by Friday this week it will probably be over flowing...top and bottom shelf!

This is a storage cart that I have in my room by the door.  I use it to store 2-D artwork throughout the year for the art show.  It's currently a little messy, but each grade level has a black, canvas zippered bag to store artwork.  Then, if that folder fills up, I use the shelves underneath to store artwork.  Any 3-D artwork gets stored in boxes on top of cupboards until the art show.

Elementary Art Show at the Remington

Last Saturday I went to the Elementary Show opening at the Remington Art Gallery.  I was a little surprised at the small amount of work that was submitted...I was expecting almost every school in the area to participate!  Not the case.  Either way, (and I don't know how to say this without sounding cruel...) seeing what other schools put out made me feel good about the art I can get my students to do.  I work in a very low-income school district and we are actually ranked 30 out of 32 in the local two counties in our math/English test scores.  :(  I'm not saying the art there was bad, but in comparison, I saw that the artwork I submitted was at least par or above par to the other work that was submitted, in my opinion! I know that probably sounds bad, but I've never really seen other Elementary artwork from the area until now (last year, I never went to the show...my parents came up to visit the weekend it opened and we had a horrible snow storm, so I never made it out there.), and I've always wondered where my students rank in the art department across the county.  Here are just a few photographs of the art that was at the show.

The pastel poinsettias and Greek vase are from my students...The small watercolor picture of a house was pretty impressive!

The birch trees with the white border and dinosaur picture in the top right corner are from my students...maybe I'm partial, but I like my birch tree project better! ;)

Drip paintings and a Chihuly project done by the Remington day care students.

The mask and Aboriginal art on the left comes from an art teacher who just started teaching this year.  Her and I actually graduated college together.  She has four blogs for her grade levels (she teachers in a small school district and teaches K-12 art.)

The Chihuly project on the right was done by the Remington day care students.

Art Shows: How do you decide which art to send?

Thank you Ruth for introducing me to Picasa!  I'm not really sure how I missed the boat on that one, but I'm in love!  Finally figured out an easy way to edit my photos quickly, as well as add my blog in text on top of the photo!

Alrighty, this post is about sending student artwork to art shows.  How do you decide which art to send?  Do you base it off of skill, student improvement, student in need of praise...???  I finished the process of picking out four elementary student artworks to send to the 30th Annual Elementary Art Exhibit at the Frederick Remington Art Museum.

For anyone who doesn't know, the American artist Frederick Remington originated from Canton, NY.  He is most famous for his artwork of cowboys, soldiers and Native Americans from the Old West.  I honestly don't know much about Remington and I feel I should brush up on him since I live a short distance from where he worked (I'm not into the "Wild West", nor is his painting style my favorite to study).  Anyways, the art museum owns a variety of his works (not necessarily his most popular or well-known ones) and I believe one of the buildings is his actual house.

This art show does not have any awards for having the best artwork.  It is merely a show for local schools to send their artwork to for recognition and to show the public what we are doing in art.  This is how I tend to choose artwork to go to this particular show:  I like to choose two artworks that are excellent in skill and craftsmanship and two artworks from students who have shown improvement or don't usually receive positive praise in school or at home for that matter.  If it was a show where there was an actual prize to be won, I would probably be a little more selective, however if it came down to two or three artworks and I couldn't choose, I would pick the student who is less recognized to go to the show.

1st Grade Dinosaur World crayon drawing with Sharpie marker

4th Grade oil pastel poinsettias

6th Grade Greek pottery scratch art

3rd Grade winter birch trees

Check it out!

Check it out!  I've FINALLY posted the photos from my 2011 art show, which was from my first year of teaching.  I've posted most of the artwork and the bowling pins that we auctioned off to raise money for art club that year!  (You can also check out last year's art show as well...the links to the pages are on the top right of my blog!)

My Keith Haring bowling pin...